When I first saw The Rise of Cobra Rip Attack Jet Storm Cycle with Snake Eyes, boxes of them were crowding several shelves. Within a few days however, that Php 300.00 (about $6.50 US) price tag started attracting casual buyers and the Snake Eyes name on the Jet Storm Cycle virtually guaranteed that it would outsell its wavemate, the Rip Attack Tiger Snake. After putting the toy back about a dozen times over the course of a week, I finally decided to pick it up. They were already down to the last two when I did. I wish I'd gotten a few more when I had the chance.
Now, I'll be upfront with you and say that there are two reasons that this toy gets high marks with me. The first is that it was cheap. The Rip Attack sets are one of those weird items that just sort of appear on Toy Kingdom shelves at bargain basement prices. It just popped up one day at rock bottom prices. It was pretty sweet for a set that includes a both an action figure and a vehicle; both the Rise of Cobra Snarler Cycle and the Pursuit of Cobra Cycle Armor were over Php 1,000.00 and neither had any real action features (the transformation of the armor doesn't count).
The second reason is the aforementioned action feature. There are no unwieldy missile launchers or silly "Kung-Fu Grip!" come-ons. The feature is a ripcord powered flywheel. What's a flywheel, you ask?
"A flywheel is a mechanical device with a significant moment of inertia used as a storage device for rotational energy. Flywheels resist changes in their rotational speed, which helps steady the rotation of the shaft when a fluctuating torque is exerted on it by its power source such as that caused by a piston-based (reciprocating) engine, or when an intermittent load, such as the motion of a piston pump, is placed on it."
Well, blimey! How do you use it for a toy?
"In the event of a flywheel, the flywheel is a weighted wheel positioned within the mobile toy. The flywheel is powered using any suitable mechanism or device for providing a high-rate of angular momentum to the flywheel, a non-limiting example of which includes using a rip cord that is engageable with gears that are affixed with the flywheel. For example, pulling a ripcord along the gears will cause the flywheel to rotate at a high-rate of speed."
In this case, Hasbro's provided you with a ripcord. To use it, you need to place toy into its launcher and thread the cord through the socket. Pulling the ripcord spins the gears and sets the flywheel going. Once you pull the trigger of the launcher, you can watch Snake Eyes ride off into the sunset.
Or at least until he hits a wall.
Note that he usually does this at speed, since the flywheel is pretty powerful even if a kid pulls the cord. I find it fun to put a Microman figure on the bike, rev it up, and watch it slam into the wall throwing the figure into the wall like good old Vince and Larry (I still want 1/18th scale figures of those guys).
As action figures go, this one is a lot of fun. However, like all such features, sacrifices have to be made in terms of design in order to accommodate them. The look of the bike is rather plain. There aren't many fancy details, or exposed engine parts. There aren't any gun ports or storage compartments for equipment. The two missiles that come with it are huge, ugly, and for some reason, yellow. The whole thing looks utilitarian.
Personally, I like it (except for the yellow missiles - what is up with THAT, Hasbro?). It makes a nice change from my Moto-Terminators and all the other 1/18th scale bikes I keep buying. The plainness looks more... "Joe".
The figure is pretty much a crappy kit-bash from various Rise of Cobra figures. I'm pretty sure the majority of the figure are from the Paris Pursuit Snake Eyes, only without the coat. They changed the arms though and gave him that ugly harness from the first Rise of Cobra Snake Eyes; the one with that pistol that hangs down in front of him. Yuck. Just chuck him in your bin and use the bike for your Commando Snake Eyes or City Strike Snake Eyes.
Like I said, this was a great buy not because it's a particularly good looking toy, but because it was great value for the money. If you can still find it at below Php 500.00, I'd say go for it. I wish I'd gotten several more so I could give them as gifts this Christmas or have some extras for the other toys in my collection.
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